A SON IS GIVEN Chapter 116

Adoption in Canada was free where each provincial government managed it. We were told it would take from 11-12 months after the application and home visits before a child would be available. It was late June 1969 when the call came for us to come to the adoption office. They had a baby for us. We were surprised. It is nothing like waiting for the birth of a child. At a birth you have a fairly good idea when the child will come. At adoption it is a sudden surprise, especially for us. It had only been seven months. Our son was born on April 9^th and he came to us three months later.

We were a nervous wreck as we drove to the adoption agency. Della took the call and neglected to ask the sex. What were we getting? We loved our social worker. She was kind and helpful all along the way. She met us with a great big smile and immediately said, “Would like to meet your son?” She brought him in and placed him in Della’s arms and tears rolled down both our cheeks.

Rod is nearly one in this photo

As we went through information and completed adoption procedures we were once again warned that while the birth mother had signed papers to release her son, she could change her mind within the next year. That is the fear adopting parents lived with in those days. We knew it but believed God would not allow us to lose our firstborn.

As we went through information about his birth parents – both college students, both extremely bright, no longer together. The foster home that cared for him provided one diaper; two bottles and a half can of formula, the clothes on his back and the baby blanket in which he was wrapped. Only one thing really bothered us. He was only 2 ounces heavier than his birth weight. He had not been cared for, as he should. At least that was our opinion.

When we left we drove directly to Dr. Hindmarsh’s office to have him checked. He was definitely under weight. He had begun to whimper on the way home. Della fed him as we went back to Osler Street. We stopped for diapers and more formula. We were met at our house by aunt Betty Turnbull. She was our good friend and often our sitter as well.

It was that night we were introduced a seriously crying baby. It seemed we could do nothing to calm him down. It was hours before he gave up and we were back to the doctor the next morning. What is wrong? Colic! We had four more months of his screaming and crying every single night. We quickly learned that the only way to keep him calm was movement. We could walk with him, rock him, push him in his stroller or take him for a drive. We could not stop for nearly three hours each night (6-9).

Easter Sunday before he turned one.

Della gave up everything but Pioneer Girls to be home with him. I stayed home that night, but she became frustrated that I was out nearly every night. At one point she demanded that I come home more evenings and relieve her. She needed a break. This was the beginning of a necessary change in what was a deteriorating relationship. I spelled her off half the time. My heart broke for Della’s pain and that of our son. I would rock and walk praying for them both and screaming to God for healing. The colic ran its course and through coming together to support one another in this pain, we fell in love all over.

Out social life took a big hit. We could barely spend any time apart from him. He needed attention every night. Betty could help some, but not much until the colic broke. It always came back to us. We finally gave up going out except to out friends the Tracy’s. He managed better at their place and we enjoyed being with another family who adopted. Doc told us colic would come to an end, but any parent who has had a colic child knows the end cannot come soon enough.

We needed Rodney James Walker not just for his sake but also for our marriage. God allowed our son to heal our love. He was our gift from God.

Alliance Youth Fellowship (AYF) chapter 115

The primary focus of my youth ministry in Saskatoon was to get a high school youth group up and running. The resistance was vocal but not major. Selling the idea was a bigger deal. The Millers had recently moved to Saskatoon from Regina and Cliff had been part of a youth group. He came on board was our first “elected” president. Cliff drove at that time and helped get kids who needed rides to and from events. We both hauled a few people. The program built slowly but steadily. There was a fairly large pool of youth within the church tow draw from and I knew it was going to happen.

When I went to youth group as a teen, the program was little more than a replica of “big church” but for teens. We sang, took an offering and had some adult speak or a teen give a testimony. According to the denominational constitution there were four elected teens to serve as a miniature governing board. Their job was too look important, but do it the way the handbook directed. Boring!

I struggled with the approach. I was fighting that concept on an international level and chose to move toward a broader format on the local level. We had the outward structure, but we were going to have fun and see what God would do in our lives. That led to some unusual and fun events. Because of my desire to build leaders my goal was to guide them into events they would enjoy and stretch their skills to lead. They were not handling simple responsibilities like, “You bring the mustard.” They researched locations and costs. They booked facilities, they shopped when necessary, they planned menus, ordered supplies and paid for them. If it was going to be their program, they were going to run it and their ministries were going to be meaningful and successful. Learn by doing.

I always told them I would be right with them to do all I could to help them succeed, but if the ball were dropped there would be a hole unless we could figure out a way to fill that hole at the time. I don’t remember every situation, but I have no memory of any huge holes. There was one that could have been bad.

We had a treasurer one year who collected any money taken in. I went with him to the bank to make the first deposit and he was to do that after each event where money was collected. He was then to bring the bank statement to each monthly leadership meeting. He did and as soon as I saw the statement, I knew he had not deposited any of the money collected since I went with him the first time. I waited for someone else to notice — they did and asked about it. He hemmed and hawed and then admitted he had all the money at home in a shoebox. He forgot how he was to do it.

I met with him that week, checked the contents of his shoebox to make sure it agreed with my figures and we went to the bank again. This time rather than showing him, I made him do it. He filled out a deposit slip - twice so he had some practice. I took a stack of deposit slips and had him take some and told him it was to all to be done before he left after we received income.

I know there was a chance he would have spent it. But making leaders means taking chances. He did great from then on.

From out second edition: A front page report on the halloween party.You might notice that the TV show "Laugh-in" was very popular. If you know anything about mimeographs, you know how hard it was to put this out every week. AYF met on Friday nights and the team came after school and were done for at 7:00 program start.

       The team always did a great job of turning parts of the church into a haunted house. There was an especially good part up some back stairs, into a room behind the stage then back through a narrow hall behind the platform. We did amazing things with cardboard to create tunnels and change directions. In fact, we seemed to do some strange things often. Halloween was called Halloween, not fall or harvest festival. Santa Clause came to our Sunday school. We even organized and ran our Sunday school with a leadership team in the same way we ran the youth group, all in the nbame of having more opportunities for leadership development.
       We had a terrific adult leadership team that lead the small groups in Sunday school and helped out in AYF when needed. The kids were such great leaders we didn't need many adults around. Dr. Hindmarsh, Wes Bloom, Betty Turnbull, Della Walker were all key people. Doc, as the kids called him, made his home available for after group events and most New Years Eve all nighters were in their recreation room. Della and I had them at our place when the group was smaller, but eventually the Hindmarsh's had about the only place large enough to hold the group. He also brought his speed boat to camps for water skiing and his snow mobile for winter retreat rides in the snow. He had his wife used all they had to enhance youth ministry in our church, on the college campus and other city youth ministries. I not exactly sure, but he probably brought his things to the Christian Service Brigade camp as well.

"Did You Know" was a wildly popular column. Nothing but pure gossip with added editor comments It was usually the first part people read. They looked to see if their name was there. Dorothy eventually developed a great network of spies feeding her tidbits. People were disappointed when we didn't find out about their news. Some reported on themselves. 

After reading a few issues of "Did You Know" I noticed that several now prominent Alliance ministers and spouses names appear on this paper quite often. Reminds me that eventually Mrs. Bowkers and my prayers were more than answered. Many more than ten students went off to Bible College and many went into the ministry. I do wish I knew how many. Maybe before I leave writing about Saskatoon I might be able to get a partial list.

AYF VALLEY NEWS chapter 114

UPDATE: Silverdale Whaling Days are over and so is the art show. I’m exhausted, but can’t get to sleep. My body wants to lay down, but my mind what to be up. Someday I may figure out how to get both parts to agree. The show was acceptable. I broke even. It sure beats going in the hole like I usually do. My doctor’s appointment was changed to Wednesday. Apparently the doctor is unsure if I can have a MRI with the two stints I have in my heart. Whoops! I am actually less concerned about my shoulder than a foot that is driving me crazy. Hurts all the time. Another whoops.

I swear Gladys was the alter ego of
our esteemed editor Dorothy

Dorothy Hildebrant, my teen editor and main writer, send me scanned copies of all 29 weekly issues a youth newssheet called “AYF VALLEY NEWS” which we published every week before the group began. I am going to begin including segments from time to time. We printed on 8/5x14 two sheets on both sides. It had to be done on mimeograph master (Melody (Boldt) Dreidger reminded me how hard it was to correct mistakes on those horrid inky messy things, Then they were folded and distributed as kids arrived the same night,

Lancc Atton wrote a weekly column that was remarkably clever weaving the names of kids in the group into a very inventive story. Then there was the wildly popular “Did You Know column with was little more that a funky gossip column. Most material was written before arriving but it all the stories and drawings were scratched onto the masters. Frankly, it is hard to believe we did that every week and hardly to believe how much fun it was. And it was all done without a computer.

I wish I could remember how the newspaper got started. The theory was that work projects bring people together. The most meaning part of my education at CBC was working on Youth Conference Planning Committee. We had a purpose a goal and it took everyone working together to make it happen. The Valley News was the same principle. I also started a District Zone youth retreat held at our church for the same reason. “Those who minister together grow spiritually together,” an unwritten motto for my entire ministry. I created programs, committees, quizzing and all small groups for this very purpose. Never announce you are teaching people and giving them the opportunity to serve — just do it.

Lets cut to news from Saskatoon AYF, November 1970. This is hot stuff.

If you know me, this is the story of my life. When I can no long tolerate the mess, I clean up.

NO BLOG TODAY

I'm swamped getting ready for an art show this weekend. It's the biggest one I have ever shared. 25 artists and over a 1000 expected. Hope I sell at least $100. Want to recover prep costs.

NEW YORK TOUR chapter 113

After the first day of meetings I was pretty sure I was the wrong guy in the wrong place. They were trying to pound a square peg into a round whole.  The committee, group, board, commission, consultants, council, task force (all names we called ourselves in the first day) was charged with editing and upgrading the Alliance Youth Fellowship constitution. I wanted to dump it, not rewrite it.

I was only following the process marginally in my own church. I used their terms, sort of elected/appointed leaders and wanted more a flow of teens taking responsibility. I just didn’t care what correct word should be used to clarify the exact meaning. I was convinced the whole thing should disappear, as it had no meaning. I suppose it had some meaning at the time, but it was clearly on its way out. I wanted to start the fire. It was obvious my ideas did not gel with the rest of the committee. They had a very clear assignment and were determined to do it. Being the new kid on the block I was being tolerated, not appreciated. I could see the bad fit and moved in the next day to play nice and work with them, but I never gave up my dream and made a comment whenever I could. I wanted to be somewhat careful. I didn’t want them to hate me.

After we ended the days meeting about 8:30 p.m., Glen took me for a walk. We flowed the exact same route I had taken the night before. Except we only walked two blocks toward Macy’s. Once we turned onto Broadway four people confronted us in two blocks asking for money. One was very persistent and followed us the last half block. He only gave up when we crossed the street.

It was just as crowded the second night as the first. A magician was added to the street performers. He was also a juggler. He wasn’t very good.

We stopped at the corner of Broadway and 42^nd before entering that one block of “America’s most evil.” His words, not mine. We stopped in the middle of the block and he began to point out things I had completely missed. I saw the uniformed policemen. Twelve, if I remember right. But there were another twelve or more suited men who looked a little out of place. I was told these were undercover officers.

He pointed out the prostitutes. This time I was struck by how profoundly ugly they were. Poorly dressed, sloppy, over weight, skinny, acne, and stringy hair. No one looked like the beauties of TV and film. They looked disgusting, bad teeth, cigarettes in their hands or dangling from their dry lips. I could not believe people would actually pay to be with those people. Then we studied the potential clientele. Most looked about the same. They were shabby and dirty men with hair sprouting in all directions. There was a glaze over the eyes I could see. Hucksters stood in many business doorways, trying to talk passersby into becoming customers. Traffic in and out of these doors was brisk.

I no longer saw the street as just porn shops. It became the end of the world, a last stop before death. If there are zombies, they were walking 42^nd Street.

We were talking and I was learning when a young guy approached. He was just as dirty as the rest of the crowd and he smelled of booze and cigarettes. His breath nearly took mine away. He offered to do us both at a very reasonable price. When we said no, he lowed the price. “Anything you want. I’ll do it to you or you can do it to me. I need the money.”

Glen said, “Are you needing more liquor?” “No man, I need cocaine.”

We managed to pull away and head back to my hotel. We parted at the corner of Madison and 44^th. Glen left and I walked to the entrance of my hotel when I was propositioned by a much more attractive person. I thought it was a woman, but I could have been wrong. “No thank you,” I said and went in for the night. I wanted to get back to Saskatoon and my wife. I wanted out of that hellhole.

I had a shower and went to bed.

INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN EDUCATION COMMITTEE chapter 112

As I was beginning my third year in ministry I was invited to serve on the International Christian Education Committee. While I was very honored I was smart enough to know it had nothing to do with my great ministry accomplishments and everything to do with it being an “International Committee.” They needed someone from Canada and at the time I was the only paid Christian Education person in Canada. I love saying I was the best CE person in the Canadian Alliance. It helps when you are the only one. I did wonder if they remembered that I was an American?

The committee met twice times a year for three day each at our headquarters at 260 W. 44^th Street, New York, NY. Still don’t know why I rmeme3ber that. address I can’t even remember the addresses of all the homes we had.

I had no idea what the committee was about — CE stuff, I was told. But my heart was 100% into youth ministry now and I had things I wanted to say. I needed to straighten out LIFE.

I had traveled very little in my life. As a kid we only went to visit relatives. I had that one big college choir trip with the school choir through western. Then there was our honeymoon. Now I was headed to New York City flying into JFK airport.

I had thought someone would meet me, small town thinking. I was to catch the bus to Grand Central Station. From there I was to take a cab to The Madison Hotel and be at the headquarters office for a 9:00 a.m. meeting.

Arriving alone in New York was overwhelming, but everything worked out and I ended up at the right place and was in my room by 8:30 p.m. As I looked out the window I could see the street below lined with big black limos. I don’t remember what show was playing, but the limos were dumping their contents at the St. James Theater right below. There was limo after limo. I had only seen a limo on TV before, but there were dozens below me. The men were mostly in tuxedos and the women in gowns and fur coats. I laughed. It wasn’t even cold.

I watched the traffic for a while and decided I needed to see this stuff up close and in person so descended to the street. I watched the last of the cars deposit their payload and then headed up the street toward the bright lights. One long block away was Broadway. To my right was Tomes Square and hundreds of open businesses to my left. I went left through the throngs of people. Nearly every corner had a street musician and a small crowd gathered to listen. There were so many people I had to push through at times.

When I reached Macy’s I returned on the other side of the street. There were enough lights to appear to be daylight. At the base of Times Square was 42^nd Street. All I knew about that street I learned from Natalie Wood in “The Miracle on 42^nd.” It was brighter than Broadway. I turned right. There were plenty of lights and signs everywhere, but no window displays. I had passed a few stores on 42^nd before I realized I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. This was “sin” city, one long block of porn store after porn store. Everything was XXX rated. There were more policemen on that block that I thought might even work for the City of Saskatoon. There were also the “women of ill repute leaning against buildings.  When I got to the other end of the block, I turned back and just stared at the muddle of humanity. All kinds. I could not believe what I had just seen and just walked through. It was all right there in the open. I didn’t know a place like that existed. I barely went to movies at that point in my life. Nothing seemed to be hidden. Our headquarters was only a block away. The old Tabernacle where Albert Benjamin Simpson had begun the C&MA was just one block down Madison. I could not believe my eyes.

I went to the headquarters the next morning and met the rest of the committee. It was not the Christian Education Committee but a sub-committee on youth ministry. Great. This was even better. Just where I wanted to be. Since Mrs. Weidman was still the International CE Director, I wondered what Miss A had to do with my appointment, if anything.

After introductions and facing the reality that the youngest member of the committee was me and the next one was at least 20 years older, they got down to business. The first order was introductions and to tell the newcomer (me) exactly where we were and what was all around us. We were located in an extremely danger part of the city. It was not safe to be out alone at night (whoops). One of the guys offered to stay a little later and show me around. With the two of us, I would be safe.

I kept my mouth shut about my previous excursion and took him up on his offer. We left for the tour at about 8:00 p.m. 

THE START OF CMA BIBLE QUIZZING chapter 111

Shortly after getting the youth group off the ground in the fall of 1966, I got a call from Miss Anderson, Youth Conference faculty leader at Canadian Bible College. She called about Bible quizzing. She wanted to try the quiz program and see what would happen, but she was trying to make sure there would be some teams. Could she count on me? I had worked with her on Youth Conference for three years and we had talked about the program in the past. I think I was one of the only students with some background in Bible quizzing. Ut was pretty much and American thing. I had quizzed with youth for Christ my last two years of high school. I was the stop quizzer in the state my senior  year.

I am not sure when it occurred, but Youth For Christ had closed down the quiz program and several denominations liked it so much they were starting their own.

Miss A’s sister was Mavis Weidman, the International Director of Christian Education for The Christian and Missionary Alliance and she was hoping to launch the program throughout the two countries at their big youth LIFE conference in the summer of 1967. This was going to be a test run. Who better to test the program than her sister? With no background, they were simply going to follow the old YFC program. I did know that one pretty well.

My first goal was to put a team together. I needed five, and one had to be of the opposite sex. I picked up Bob Peters and Rick Hindmarsh first, both very bright guys. Larry Clark came on board and I had talked Judy Friesen into it, but she was very busy and struggled. But she was determined to help get a youth program off the ground and as a senior was willing to just sit with the team if it would help. It did. I still needed one more person. I knew I could not just make an announcement; I was going to have to recruit personally.

Holden Bowker’s mother had come to visit me at the church to recruit me to pray with her that ten students would go from our church to Bible College. She was burdened that few University Drive kids were preparing for ministry. Of course, she talked about what a talented and brilliant student her third son was and wanted to see him have a deeper connection to the church. I told her about my quizzing call and she directed me to Holden. He was a winner. He was bright, aggressive and determined. He had a real desire to win and had the skills to do it. He also liked to challenge questionable answers and was good at it if over done at time.

1967 Saskatoon Quiz Team - third at Internationals at LIFE '69.
B: Clyde, Della, unknown (may have been from Outlook),
Ken Seimens, Elard Ratzlaff, Ken Ratzlaff, F: Holden Bowker
(captain) Cliff Miller, Judy Friesen and Bob Peters

Those first years were very primitive compared to the mechanics of later years. Besides a quizmaster, a scorekeeper worked by hand and announced the score from time to time, and there were jump judges. There were suppose to be three, but often finding one was a challenge. They would try and watch all twelve quizzers at the same time and determine who jumped first. Three teams of four each competed at one time.

Quizzers had their little tricks to win the jump. Although it was supposed to be about who got their rear off the chair first, the most flamboyant jumper usually won. To jump high and throw your arms wildly around was a wining distraction. Drawing attention often worked.We won at Youth Conference in 1967. Because of a small interest and travel there was no separate district competition that I recall. All teams from our district were at that conference and it served as our district championship. There was no separate national competition. Instead each district was invited to come to LIFE '67 at Estes Park that summer to compete for a "national title." There were only a few districts that came, most quit inexperienced. The toughest competition came from of Tenth Avenue in Vancouver and Western Pennsylvania. Out first year, we quizzed on the book of Acts. Both the other teams had former Youth For Christ quizzers as their coaches and they knew what they were doing. They both out coached me and their teams were sharp. We placed third.

Mrs. Weidman loved the results and planned for nationals the next year. 1968. It was at St. Paul - sort of the middle of the country. The teams were the same and they beat us again. What were new to us were electronic quiz seats and a big beautiful scoreboard. We were in awe. Throwing your arms in the air no longer worked. Just getting off the seat was the key. Jumps became smaller, tighter and less obvious. Some didn’t even look like they jumped. We placed third on the book of John.

Bert was from Ohio I believe. He brought all that quiz equipment out in his big black hearse. He was such a delightful guy and always cheerful and helpful. He let us all practice as needed to adjust to the technology. My team was still pretty wild in their jumps. However, Western PA had the advantage. They had Bert and his equipment at their district championships.

We went right home and commissioned an electrician to make us a set. He did and they worked, but they were about 1-1/2 inches thick and very uncomfortable. We would be competitive the next year.

In 1969 they had a plan to get more teams at nationals by setting up regional competitions first. In our case, that was also at St. Paul. So we took our church team and a district team. No one expected that one district would qualify the top two teams. We did. There was a great deal of debate about how to organize the teams. They wanted to include as many churches as possible and my selfish side was that I only believed that our church team could win. I knew we would be up against Vancouver again and did not know how we would ever pull a district team together for practice. So we did both. We held practices in Saskatoon and those from other cities came when they could. The big winner was Tom Vincent from Outlook. He made all the practices and was a great quizzer.

This is all the quizzers from 1967. The front four competed
 at LIFE, but I'm not sure who the fifth was. B: Clyde, Della,
unknown(may have been from outlook), Ken Seimens,
Elard Ratzlaff, Ken Ratzlaff F: Holden Bowjer, Cliff Miller,
Judy Friesen and Bob Peters.

LETS HAVE A CHILD chapter 110

We wanted children but were having no success at getting pregnant. I was having my doubts about whether we should even have any as our marriage was struggling. It was my fault.

We had a great first year. We were always together. We shared the ministry as much as possible. The only tough part was that I was always seated on the platform Sunday morning and usually read the Scripture, I felt like I was just there for show. Pastors belonged on the platform. Della often worked in the nursery, increasing her longing for children.

We were together Sunday night and Wednesday at prayer meeting. We both went to the youth group on Friday nights. She was great with the girls and used her gift of hospitality and helps to fill in wherever needed. Be shared that ministry together.

In the first few months my only night at the church without her was for board meetings. They were every other week. We were not together on Tuesday nights, but we were both at church for Christian Service Brigade and Pioneer Girls.

As I got more and more involved the ministry, I was at work later and later and my excuses were not making sense to her. What could I possibility be doing? I was at the church. I was really at another meeting. There kept being more and there were more kinds than I believed existed or should exist in any church. I began to start the work assigned from those meetings before going home or I had individual meetings with people following. They may not all have been necessary, but I was trying to prove myself worthy. I was there on “trial” and wanted to stay. Becoming a workaholic was how I was going to prove I belonged.

The conflict became very clear at our two summer teen camps and then later that summer at Estes Park, Colorado for an international youth conference called LIFE. At both locations I dug into ministry and operated like she wasn’t there. That did not set well at all. I was in charge at teen camp and there was no excuse. LIFE was partially another matter.

We had a pile of people from the district make the trip to Colorado – a full bus. Della and I were counselors with no other responsibility. We should have been able to be together a great deal. The camp was very large. Over 3000 kids met in that beautiful setting. It was second LIFE conference which they were having every five-years. I began the week upset because all counselors were simply assigned a group of strangers and not with the kids they brought. I wanted to use the time to get to know some of my guys. I let everyone who looked somewhat official know I thought the structure was wrong. It made no sense. The campers assigned to me all knew each other. I was the stranger. It was like breaking into prison. I didn’t belong.

A side note: Years later when I was directing the public meetings at another LIFE conference, a youth pastor came up to me and said, “I am a youth pastor today because of you.” I looked at him like he was an alien. “Where do we know each other from?” I was in a camper in your room at LIFE 1965. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I had complained the whole week about being with those guys and here God slapped me in the face to say, “You have no idea what I can do.” True!

The main meeting building was near the bottom of the mountain. I was placed in a lodge somewhat near the gathering point. Della had a group near the top was wearing out going back and forth and wanted me to walk her back to he cabin every night. She did not want to return to the area during the day. The distance was too great. I did not make remaining down hill with me easy. I was off hooking up with someone else too often. We had a difficult time even finding one another at times. We were also assigned different eating areas. She was often alone.

While the program was very good, it was terrible for individual church connections. Our kids were spread all over the place. There was neither rhyme nor reason to the rooming assignments, from my point of view. I listened to their reasons for the structure and it never made sense. I was not enamored with the new international youth director and began right then and there to want his job. I knew I could do better.

The result was that we had to work to see each other and it was still our first year of marriage. I was trying to find ways to build a district unity, but doing a bad job of building marriage unity. A tension developed.

 I will never forget the big fight we had later that fall when she announced that she was going home to her mother and I responded, “If you do that, you will ruin my ministry.” I can’t believe how stupid I was. How angry I was. I was not thinking of her needs. It was all about me.

Over the next couple of weeks we worked out a truce. I agreed to be tested to see if there was a reason why we could not have children. We both were checked out. It was my problem. My sperm count way so low that chance of having a child was under 0-10%. Shortly there after, we began the paper work for adoption. We both loved that idea.

Any reasonable person would counsel a couple like us not to have children when the marriage seems to be in trouble. I guess we just weren’t reasonable. We pushed ahead and got the room ready for our first child.

Lois went home for the summer. She already had plans to live even closer to the school with several girls from the church for the next year. It would be just the two of us again. Della had her part time job, but was it enough? I was becoming more and more of a workaholic. Would we survive?

SASKATOON HOMES chapter 109

In Saskatoon, We lived in three different houses. We started out next door to the church. When the Fire Marshall inspected the church he condemned the space up and behind the pulpit being used as an apartment. We left the house next door and the janitor moved in.

From there we moved to a cute little two-bedroom place on Osler Street. The Bosanko’s became our landlord. We loved this little place. It was about the same size as the first one, but actually had a yard, not a parking lot. We were now responsible to care for a yard, but had nothing with which to mow. Mike put a lawn mower in the garage, but came over every week and mowed the lawn for us. I was embarrassed to tears, but we could not stop him. “You have other things to do.” Right! I was usually sleeping.

Between Mike and the next-door neighbors we had all the tools needed to trim, weed and care for the yard properly. The very kind and elderly neighbors had everything and when she saw my struggles, offered the use of all they had. They had all I needed. With their help I put off buying yard tools for another two years.

The Osler Street house was close to the University of Saskatchewan and Lois Rose came to live with us. She is the daughter of Pastor and Mrs. Rose from Red Deer and Regina. She was beginning her first year of preparation for nursing. It was like old times having her around. There was lots of laughter. It was good for Della as she was really bored. I was gone more than she thought I should. Another person in the house meant more traffic and more interaction. She ultimately got a part time job at children’s clothing and furniture store. It helped her a great deal. Della always loved to be buys. The small house and no children to mess it up meant it was in order rather quickly. The side affect of her new job was increased longing for children.

One morning in April, Della and I were startled to hear voices in our house singing at the top of their lungs. We were both startled and sat straight up in bed trying to get our bearings and figure out what on earth was happening. I finally pulled some clothes on and walked out to hear the singing start all over, “Happy birthday to you….” I was never an easy person to surprise, but this did it. Lois, dear, dear Lois, let all these people in on my birthday for a wake up party. I have never had a birthday breakfast party. I don’t remember if there was a cake, but I think not. I am still groggy from the thought and can’t remember that happened, other than they all had to quickly leave to get to school and work. We did not feed the breakfast. Likely they would not have liked out choice of cereal. Lois did not even bother to tell Della. She was just as surprised as I.

After two years on Osler, we bought our first house on Preston across the street from the Bosanko’s. I didn’t mind the layout of the house, but it needed work. Della could see past the mess better than I. The yard was nothing but weeds. They were so tall it looked like we would need a tractor to get them down. Actually, that is what we used in the back yard. It helps to have farmer friends. There was garbage inside that filled many a trashcan. Everything needed to be painted. The basement had not been improved but helped us to examine the structural integrity of the house. It was structurally sound, thankfully. So we bought our first house. We bought that house for about $16,000 and lived there for two years.

I love the youth group who came over several times to help clean up by cutting weeds, hauling out trash and painting. I still have an image of big tall Larry Clark crammed inside the kitchen cupboard under the sink painting. I couldn’t even see how he fit.

It was convenient living across from the Bosanko’s. I had never had Borsht before she introduced us to the delight. We both loved it and began having it delivered regularly, and not by request. We were invited to their home for Sunday dinner quite often. I think they figured it was their responsibility to protect this young couple. I was fine with that. What a spread. They always had a large group in and more food than found at a commercial buffet. Then there was the added benefit of, “Here, take this home with you. It is too much for us.”

Two years later we sold that house for $20,000 to our successor at the church and two years later they sold it for $40,000. We should have stayed two years longer.

SUMMER CAMP chapter 108

I had the privilege of personally being beaten up and knocked around by God during my first year and a half at Bible College. It was the whipping I needed to see my need of a Savior to control me. I was doing a very bad job. He worked me over so much I came out the other end knowing He loved me. During the last two years of Bible College it felt like God had left just to see what I might do on my own. It became obvious quickly that I was a screw up when left alone.

During my years in Saskatoon, God came back for a long and personal visit. Life wasn’t perfect, but He was always there. There were some indications in the first year that God at work, but after the second summer camp, everything changed. We met God in prayer meetings, at youth group, in Sunday school and social activities and Bible quizzing and just times of sitting around.

I have never been good at describing the presence of God. There were no clouds to lead us, no manna on the ground, no dew on the sheepskin; no appearing images but there were a few visual signs. It began as a gentle stirring. Teens enjoyed talking about God. When I moved to Vancouver the experience was repeated and stepped up a notch.

We still faced real issues and problems at camp.  We always lined up outside the lodge for each meal. It was a cool and somewhat windy day when the normal hubbub laughter and chatter was noisily cluttering the supper line. As we were going in a camper asked if I had seen Larry and Dave. Frankly, I had napped before supper and had seen no one until getting in line.

Once inside I looked for the boys and did not find them. I asked before prayer if anyone had seen the boys and one camper said they went out in a canoe about 2:00 that afternoon. I got hold of Dr. Hindmarsh and asked him to take the speedboat out for a look around. I was frightened. They had been gone for 3 1/2 hours. One of the counselors jumped in the boat with doc while other leaders got together to pray. Had they drowned?

I missed supper that night (not really, just missed the time. The sisters held back food for those out looking for the boys), Janet, our camp nurse was the first to mention they might have capsized and if they had, they were going to come back cold. She coordinated efforts to get blankets and sleeping bags to be available to warm them up slowly.

It was 30 minutes before the doc returned with two nearly blue boys. He had already begun trying to warm them up with what little he had. The canoe had tipped over an hour and a half earlier and because of the wind, they could not right it. They were hanging on for dear life praying that help would come. They had left without telling anyone they were going and held little hope for rescue. Both were strong swimmers and skilled canoeists, but unable to beat the wind that kept getting stronger and knocking them back in the water. The life vests kept them up.

We got the boys out of their wet clothes and a couple of the men stripped to their shorts, wrapped them in their arms and people piled blankets and sleeping bags on them until their normal color returned. The doc and nurse were right there with us during the entire recovery period. About two hours later, everyone was starved and the wonderful cooking sisters warmed food for all.

That was accidental. Another incident was intentional. One girl was mad at a cabin mate and sprinkled pepper inside her pillowcase. The girl hand an afternoon nap and awoke with a swollen red face, coughing and sneezing. The doc had a look at her and said she needs to go to the hospital. It was 70 kilometers to Regina, An hour drive. It was Janet who figured out what had happened when she went through the bedding to try and see if the camper had been bitten by something. She found pepper in the pillowcase and learned the victim was allergic. Janet put her in her car and drove to Regina, while campers and leaders prayed. God began healing the girl as they drove. Once given the necessary antibiotics she was on the mend and had returned completely heal by the time they got back to camp. Answered prayer does marvels for anyone’s faith, especially teens. It did a lot for the entire camp.

CAMP KATEPWA chapter 107

The next summer we moved the teen camp to southern Saskatchewan in the Qu’Appelle valley. Ft. Qu’Appelle was the focal point of a string of five beautiful lakes, located 70 km northeast of Regina. We rented a Baptist camp on Lake Katepwa. There were considerably fewer mosquitos.

The move brought more campers. It was a great place with typical youth cabins, a directors cabin, a dock, canoes, volleyball, established campfire a great dining hall with cook residence and other guest rooms overhead.

A drawback was that the camp did not have showers. In fact there was no well and no on site water. It was trucked in twice a week from Ft. Qu’Appelle. The lake was very important. It was were we jumped in to get semi-clean. So I was crushed on arrival to see a ribbon of algae clinging to the docks and shore of the camp. I anticipated the problem when I passed two other lakes and saw the algae clinging to the southern shores. I was hoping we wouldn’t have it, but I was dreaming to think we would be exempt. The kids were already gathering at the water with huge disappoint. Dr. Hindmarsh had brought the boat he bought specifically to help improve the camp experience so we could have water skiing. He didn’t even want to bring his boat into the stuff.

I knew what I wanted to do, but I also wanted to wait for Harrison Weaver to arrive. When all the leaders were settled we gathered on the dock in a circle holding hands where quite a few campers joined us. We prayed believing God wanted this camp to be a blessing and touch the lives of those who gathered, therefore, the algae had to leave. After our prayers were completed we watched the green slimy algae gradually crawl to the opposite shore. The camp waters were clear. It was going to be a great week.

I had talked my two favorite cooks from the Saskatoon church to come to camp. Mrs. Borsenko and Mrs. Kowalenko were sisters who cooked for all the church events. I loved them. The never wanted any help and had no problem handling our little group of eighty. They bickered, argued and corrected one another and always produced terrific meals. The kids did the dining room set up and clean up and these women ordered them around like army sergeants. Everything was done right.

God visited this camp in supernatural ways. Most camps have a pretty good closing campfire, but God crashed in on night one and it just got better each night. Campfires are meant to be in the dark. We always planned the campfire for 10:00 but to do that clocks were reset to fit the lighting. We adjusted the times. Our 9:00 a.m. was actually 11:00 a.m. so campfire began at our 10:00 p.m. or midnight. We all loved it. It sounded so normal but wasn’t. The teens thought this was great.

The first night the campfire went two hours and by the fifth and final night the sun was coming up before anyone went to bed. We tried to shut things down earlier each night but the campers kept it going. God was working.

The lodge and dining room

As it turned out, this was just the beginning. I remained at Saskatoon long enough to experience four camps at Katepwa. They just got better and better. Why God chose to visit us was beyond my understanding — He just did.

One of the cabins

This transformed church youth groups throughout our district: Regina, Outlook, Saskatoon and others. Kids were saved. Lives were changed. Churches were impacted in ways they did not yet understand. The teens were leading the churches spiritually but the adults did not see it yet.

THE ARCHERY INSTRUCTOR chapter 106

The following year we moved our district camp to the Fort Qu’Appelle area northeast of Regina, Saskatchewan. This was a more convenient to many of our churches and far less bugs. However, two years later I did have the occasion to return to Jeannette Lake with Christian Service Brigade (CSB).

The greater Saskatoon CSB group rented the same camp we had used each summer. Our church had always been part of the large and enthusiastic area wide organization and a great number of our guys went to camp there. It was only a matter of time before I was talked into joining them. I kept putting it off because of the bugs. I was assured it wasn’t as bad as the year of teen camp, but I had my doubts. Besides, Harrison did not go to that camp and I was sure he would be needed.

Believe it or not I did that quite often, before I retired from Archery

My third summer in Saskatoon, I agreed to go, but no one went just as just a counselor. Everyone also had to teach a skill or craft. Yuck! What on earth was this city boy gong to teach at an outdoor type “guys” camp? “Well, we need an archery instructor,” I was told. The closest I had ever come to touching a bow and arrow was playing cowboys and Indians when a kid. The CSB leaders brought bales of hay, targets and bow and arrows to my house for me to practice. I was about to become the archery instructor. Good luck. “Wait a minute, there are only two bales here.” “If you can’t at least hit those two bails all the time, we won’t need you.” “But I have neighbors across the alley.” “Don’t hit them.” I wasn’t planning to shoot a neighbor, but had no idea what I might do.

I needed the entire length of my yard to get the distance required to earn awards. The bales looked large, but — I still wasn’t sure. No one showed me anything, because they didn’t know anything. I was given an instruction book and told to practice. I did. Every night when I got home if even for a few minutes. Job one was stringing the bow. These were simple wooden bows with strings already looped. Loop it on one end of the bow and bend the bow to loop it on the other. That was the easy part.

Being left-handed I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to hold the bow. I do most sports right handed. I tried both and realized I would shoot right handed. I said a prayer (for my neighbors) pulled the bow back and hit the target. Wow! Maybe I can do this! I missed the target a few times, but never the vales. By the time camp came around I was always hitting the target. All I wanted was to stay ahead of the boys. I was going to earn my awards and pins right along with them.

My only problem was on a very hot Saturday I sat in the chaise lounge to take a break and a couple hours later Della came out to see what had happened to me and woke her newly lobster colored husband from a deep sleep. I had lain down in shorts and could already feel the pain from the sunburn; it was going to be tough at church the next day. I hoped it would be mostly gone when I left for camp in another week. I was red on one side and white on the other.

I don’t remember all the skills being taught. The most popular ones were horseback riding and water skiing. There was also a rifle range and a dozen or more other things that led to CSB badges and awards. I would my way up to advanced over my three years as the archery instructor.

One year I made a cartoon of each of the leaders. Nothing more than stick figures actually but each had a distinguishing item or feature that identified who they were. The camp director was a terrific guy but he often talked about humility. He was my main character and so I titled the drawings, “How I Keep Myself Humble” by Moon Doggy, This was just a quick little thing that I saw as completely disposable, but everyone wanted a copy of all the cartoons. Since this was the days before copiers, I redrew each cartoon on a mimeograph master and made copies that were then distributed through the churches. That was a lot of work.

As it turns out, the year I left Saskatoon, CSB bought property on Jeannette Lake. “In 1970 The Jeannette Lake Camping Association Inc. formed in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan with the vision of establishing a camp board. The Board wished to oversee the creation of a permanent camp site for the benefit of organizations like the Christian Service Brigade (CSB), Pioneer Girls and other Christian groups who felt the need for a site for single short camps and retreats.” The area is a beautiful location if there are no bugs. There held their first camp a stayed in tenets in 173

I may have exaggerated the impact and quantity of mosquito’s my first year at Jeannette Lake with our teen camp, but not by much. The sky was slightly grey, but when CSB was there, it wasn’t bad. You still needed protection, but it was tolerable. Personally I think we have Harrison Weaver to thank for asking God to clear the air so we (and all who followed) would have successful camps.

PS: I apologize to any readers I may have from those CSB days. The name of the booklet is right, the camp directors name and camp name have totally escaped me. If anyone remembers, I would like to be corrected.

I’M THE DIRECTOR? Chapter 105

Summer camps responsibilities were sure to come. I was the only paid youth guy in our district. The camp had been run for years by a pastor from Flin Flon, Manitoba. There was nothing central about Flin Flon. I was surprised that they even came as far west to camp at Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan. That was nearly a whole providence away. I did not give the camp a lot of thought. I was scheduled to be the assistant director and learn the camp pattern so I could take over the following year.

I didn’t really know that much about camps. I went to one as a kid and hated the whole experience. To this day I wonder why I went. I didn’t really have a friend that I went with. I was put in a cabin with boys I knew from church, but I wasn’t buddies with any of them and didn’t care much for any of them. There were two “camp meetings” a day and they were longer than church and even more boring, if that was possible. I remember feeling harangued to become a Christian and/or be filled with the Holy Spirit. All that made me want to do was go home. This is before the days I decided to just fake speaking in tongues and get it over with.

I had attended a Youth For Christ retreat as a teen that was pretty fun, but I mostly remember helping to lift a VW bug between two trees and sleeping in a cabin when I felt like I was about to freeze to death. The third was a national Youth For Christ Gathering at Winona Lake, Indiana. It was neat, but nothing like summer camp.

All I can say is — I knew nothing.

Five days before camp, I got a phone call from the pastor in Flin Flon and his father had passed away and not only would he go to the funeral, he would be there for several days cleaning up his affairs. At a time like that it is pretty rude to say, “Don’t go. I need you here.” I gulped deeply and screamed silently.

Della was already planning to come as a girl’s counselor. She seemed to know more about standard camp programs that I did so we sat down to try and figure this out. The full camp program and all the details were being put in the mail. If all went well, I would have that info in two days and three to go. I didn’t even know who the camp staff was. Did we have everyone we needed? I hoped so.

I had the Christian Service Brigade games book and put it to good use. We picked ones that both sexes might enjoy and hopefully were somewhat unusual. The previous director may have had a great program, but I have always had the need to be over prepared. If I didn’t know all his activities, or if I would like them or want to do them, what then? I needed a backup.

I think we headed to Jeannette Lake, Saskatchewan on a Monday morning for a five-day camp. We had our car loaded with half the camp food and some equipment and there were several others from our church and the area in a caravan with kids and their things. The flatness of Saskatchewan does not change at one goes north, but trees begin to appear. After we left Meadow Lake the sky began to turn grey. At first we didn’t know if it might be rain that was coming. It didn’t exactly look like clouds. The closer we go to camp the more convinced we were driving into a bug infestation.

As soon as I pulled into the camp someone approached our car and asked if I was Clyde and said, “Harrison Weaver wants to see you immediately.” When Della and I got to the dining hall all the available staff was gathering. Harrison was the pastor at Meadow Lake. I really only knew him by reputation. He was famous for having burned his church to the ground. He had been working with a torch trying to repair some pipes near the corner of the building when the flame jumped to the building and went up like a tinderbox. He was a large barrel chest 50+ year old with graying hair a booming voice and a tremendous faith in God. Harrison took over the meeting and told us all what to do.

“God cannot work at this camp with all these mosquito’s. They have got to leave.” I fully agreed with him. I already knew they loved me. I had been bitten several times from the car to the dining hall. “I want us to pray and ask God to removed these bugs from the camp.” That sounded great to me, but I had never in my life asked God for anything like that. I was willing to pray, but wondered what good it would do. Was God even willing to change the natural forces at work?

Harrison wanted everyone to pray out loud and pray believing. Out loud I could do. Believing, I wasn’t so sure about, but I wanted to. I knew he was right. We would complain all week long if something didn’t change. We prayed and Harrison ended our 20 minutes together and I could sense his faith and optimism. When he was done I had no doubt we would walk outside and the bugs would be gone.

THEY WERE and they were gone for the entire week of camp. A few of us were delayed getting away at the scheduled end to camp. We watched the mosquito’s return. God had moved them somewhere else. Maybe they went on vacation.

PS: The photos ore current ones from Jeannette Lake. It is now a major summer camp location.

NEXT: A different Jeanette Lake story

CAMPING OUT chapter 104

Mornings started with cold water in the face and pancakes on the fire — or scrambles eggs. The boys could eat a lot of both. There would be some bacon or sausage as a side. If a kid or two got up during the night for a bush visit they would have a fire already to go. The pattern was to throw more wood on the fire before crawling back in the sack. Others had to start their fire from scratch in the morning. Then there were the night owl adults who threw logs on the fire when they were up.

The day was filled with teaching and games – things the guys loved. They would learn something new about camping, the outdoors, reading signs on trails, etc. Russ was terrific with these things. It would change when he no longer came on the campouts. No one else cold do what he could do.

The two things they seemed to like the most was football and capture the flag. Part of the day would be spent setting up their respective bases and then waiting for dark to begin the war. The bases were often elaborate: prisoner pits, forted walls various noise traps (not too dangerous, we watched). They worked on these most of the free time.

The year of the bear was a tough one. A couple of boys hide some raw meat near the tent of another squad. We already knew there was a bear in the area. Evidence was everywhere. There was no sign when we picked the site and we did not discover he was near until Saturday afternoon. I’m not sure when the raw meat was tied to a tree behind the tent. Most likely the deed was done sometime Saturday. Sunday we found evidence the bear had moved closer. The camp was a mix of fear and excitement. The adult leaders could not figure out why he was coming closer. They don’t usually attack humans and as far as we knew, our guys were all human.

The question about a boy trying to draw the bear in closer did come up. Our food supply was checked and double-checked. Nothing was missing. We set up a patrol for Sunday night hoping that a continuous fire and movement might keep him away. We had no permit to trap a bear, and we didn’t want to anyway.

It was during “Capture the Flag” that night that we found the attraction. One of the guys was sneaking around in the dark and put his hand on something slimy on a tree. He jumped back and yelled, “What is this?” One of the leaders ran over with a flashlight and found two raw fish tied to the tree. They were fresh enough that they may have been put there that day. We brought all the guys together, ended the game and explained to them what had happened. Someone in our camp had put the whole camp in danger. A bear wandering through the camp was no laughing matter.

We made no attempt to ferret out the culprit. No one came forward to confess. We just set up for our final campfire. Like every youth segment of out church, these guys liked to sing, not all of course, but most. The guitars came out and we had a great time, we always did. As usually, the night ended with guys sharing something about this walk with God while throwing a twig into the4 fire. I loved those times. I got to know the hearts of the boys and see what they were becoming.

As we were unloading at the church, one boy told me that so-and-so had small fishing equipment. He was sure that guy did it. While suspicious, it was not proof.

I talked about trust; dependability and having each other’s back for the next few weeks in both Sunday school and youth group. So-and-so was at both. He finally came to me and said he needed to apologize. “What about?” “I caught those fish at the campout.” “No one seemed to know you had even been fishing.” “I wanted them for supper, but then through it would be funny if a bear cam into camp.” “What do you think now?” He was pretty frightened. I thanked him for telling me. There was no need to give a lecture. He had lived several weeks with what could have happened. The best part was we became good friends.

THE FIRST DAY chapter 103

It didn’t take long till the Christian Service Brigade end of the year campouts were a highlight for me as well as the boys. The badges and awards were used as a way for the boys to earn their way to camp. They could not go if they had not achieved the minimum standard. I don’t recall a single boy not meeting the mark and most exceeded. We all made sure all the boys meet their goal.

One of the great things about camping in the great white north at the end of may is that whenever we arrived there was still going to be enough light to set up. Dusk was beginning around11:00. The guys began arriving at the church about 4:00 for a 5:00 departure. They had guidelines in what to bring in clothing, gear and sleeping bags. While we always had three or four pickups and several cars to handle the 50 or so guys and leaders, space was always tight. I think they came early to make sure their gear got on the truck. One truck was carried the tents and all group equipment. The others carried the boys gear.

No trip north was complete without a stop at Bertha’s. I couple of cars arrived at her outpost first and the guys would always stock up on junk for the weekend. There was a little kid with me on one of our visits and he asked Bertha if there were bear around there. The boy was sitting at the counter on one of her 50’s style swivel top torn black plastic stools when she reached over the counter and grabbed him by the front of his shirt and said, “Let me tell you about bear.” She hung on to the kid until she finished her story.

“Just three nights ago, I heard some grunts and scratching at mu back door. It woke me clean up from a dead sleep and I were mad. I got up, pulled on mu boots and went to mu door.” Meanwhile she begins walking toward the door dragging Jimmy along the front of the counter while she was on the backside. A couple of guys had to get out of the way to let Bertha and Jimmy through. When she got to the door, she switched hands pushing the poor kid to her left while opening the door toward the inside with her right hand. “And there he was. One of the biggest ole bears I had ever seen tryin ta get in ta my place ta eat mu food, or just make a mess. I looked him right in the eye with the meanest look I could muster and told him ta get off mu porch. He didn’t move so I reached hind the door” — at this point she let Jimmy go and pulled her shotgun around the door an into both hands where she pretended to jam the thing under the chin of the bear — “and kablam. I blew a hole right through his neck and out da back side. Wanna see it.” She had everyone’s attention now and the whole gang followed her to the back where she had brownies skin stretched on a frame. The head was still attached and drooping and the hole on the back of his neck tore the hair right off.  “The meats not ready or I could sell ya a bear burger.”

Obviously not our boys.

The tent truck got in place first and the boys began to set up. While some worked on the tent others gathered wood and built a fire for the supper meal and coupe prepared fresh water with purification pills. Each squad made their own meals. Meals were predetermined and distributed as needed. Everyone had a job and everyone did his job. The first order of business was supper. 

 

One of the always-popular meals was “chicken in a can.” We never had that the first night, as it was a nearly all-afternoon job. They had to tend their fire for several hours. The fire would burn down to coals and then they would set #10 can full of purified water in the middle of the fire and put a whole chicken in the can. Cut up a little onion and add some spices, potatoes and veggies and that chicken was always fall off the bone delicious. When the food was pulled out, flour was added and they even learned to make gravy. Most gravy was lumpy, but no one every complained. They had done it themselves.

#10 cans are round, but this gives you the right idea.

After the meal and clean up, there was time for exploration. They always wanted to know where they were and what was there. Many wanted to see what animal tracks could be found. While hoping for bear, we usually found evidence of dear, rabbit and sometimes foxes. Only once was there a bear nearby. That year we have to keep the boys from trying to draw it into camp. Food had to be secured and locked away from any animals all the time. Some guys tried to set meat out. I don’t know what they thought they would do if one came into camp. A couple of the adults had guns, but they were locked in the trucks. We never needed them.

Each night ended with a dusky campfire. It was just to late for a tired group to wait for complete dark.